"Intimate Friends" explores the fascinating history of the erotic friendships of educated English and American women over the 150-year period leading up to the 1928 publication of Radclyffe Hall's landmark novel, "The Well of Loneliness". Distinguished scholar Martha Vicinus explores all-female communities, liaisons between younger and older women, the female rake, and even mother-daughter affection. Women, she reveals, drew upon a rich religious vocabulary to describe elusive and complex erotic feelings. Drawing upon diaries, letters, and other archival sources, Vicinus brings to life a variety of well-known and historically less recognized women, ranging from the predatory Ann Lister (who documented her sexual activities in code), to Mary Benson (the wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury), to the coterie of wealthy Anglo-American lesbians living in Paris. In vivid and colorful prose, "Intimate Friends" offers a remarkable picture of women navigating the uncharted territory of same-sex desire.

About the Author
Martha Vicinus is the Eliza M. Mosher Distinguished University Professor of English, Women's Studies, and History at the University of Michigan. She is the author or editor of numerous works, including Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past; Lesbian Subjects: A Feminist Studies Reader; and Independent Women: Work and Community for Single Women, 1850 - 1920; the last published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews
"Passionate, erudite, and deeply researched, Intimate Friends puts erotic desire at center stage in the history of women who loved women. Martha Vicinus tells compelling stories of female husbands and rakes, devoted daughters and cross-dressing inverts, changing forever the way we think about lesbian history." - Leila Rupp, author of A Desired Past"



Book Information
ISBN 9780226855646
Author Martha Vicinus
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 510g
Dimensions(mm) 23mm * 17mm * 2mm